LG in less than 24 hours!

Dear Mother Nature,

Please let us get to LG in one piece and lay off the insane wind predictions so we don't end up like Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz. We are ready to have fun and have a mini vacation.

Sincerely,

The Charlton & Voss Families

Belated Celebrations

Last night we went to my Dad's for a combo belated birthday bash! Dad and Sue were down for the count for Seth's birthday and since last week was busy we decided to have a double celebration last night. We had my traditional birthday meal of fried perch, homemade coleslaw, diced potatoes and homemade chocolate cake. I had seconds and thirds plus a piece of cake. Needless to say, I was stuffed, but went home very happy. They even made a combo cake for us. Seth was pretty excited to get to celebrate his birthday one more time AND get a couple of gifts. He is always up for presents!

Dad's famous fried perch! So delicious!

After cake Dad brought up a GIANT box and inside Seth discovered that Gramdpa ordered him his very own real, not plastic fishing pole from Cabela's. He now wants the snow to melt so he can start fishing. He was super excited!

I was given a Target gift card (score!!) and Seth was also given an Old Navy gift card (score!!)

Thank you so very much for the wonderful meal and for the wonderful gifties. We truly appreciate it all! I can't wait for lunch today to have leftover coleslaw and cake! YUM!

LG in 4 days!!!

Can you tell I'm a little excited??

Songs I'm Obssessed With

It's no secret that I love music. We have radios in just about every room, various ipods and ipod docks around the house and endless play lists. I go back and forth with my music obsessions. I find an old song and then a new song that I fall in love with. Here are the songs that I'm obsessed with right now.

1. Don't Stop Believing ~ The Glee version (Glee is a whole other obsession that I might need a support group for ha ha!)

2. Fat Bottom Girls ~ Queen

3. Firework ~ Katy Perry

4. Stuck Like Glue ~ Sugarland

5. Raise Your Glass ~ Pink

6. We Built This City ~ Starship

Let's just say it is a good thing there are no cameras in my truck and that my husband is so tolerant because I'm not shy about singing even though it isn't pretty. Hey, it makes my day!

Valentine's ROCKED

Basically in a nutshell...Valentine's Day ROCKED!

The work day flew by, Ro surprised us and took us to Maggies for dinner, we got my favorite appetizer Bang Bang Shrimp, I also got the mini cheeseburger sliders (to die for), the kids were behaved at dinner, Ro loved his new LiveStrong pullover, the kids made me a super special hand made gift AND Ro got me Glee season 1! It couldn't have been any better of a day, it was amazing!

Leah loves to do cheers!
Beaner made cookies and a crown at Judi's!
Home made crafts from my two favorite kids!

Best Valentine's day EVER!
Thank you to my three Valentine's!

xoxo

Seth and Leah also want to say a special thank you for all of the special Valentine's they received and the money for their college accounts!

Life is a journey.

We all have many ups and downs, celebrations and sadness. People come into, out of and possibly back into our lives through the years, but it's the ones that stick by us through all of it that are truly memorable. I was given the Pandora charm (above) from one of my best friends Kristen for my birthday and by glancing at it you might think that it is a beautiful charm. It truly is and it is called "journey". It is so fitting to have been given this charm from Kristen because we have certainly been through an amazing journey in the past four years together. Here is a little background on our whirlwind friendship and why I can most certainly say that we will be friends forever and quite possibly end up in an old folks home together someday kicking back, drinking wine, playing BUNCO and enjoying life to the fullest!

The Charlton Family had a close encounter with The Castana Family while hunting for Christmas trees in 2006. We met on a cold and snowy day at Hemlock Haven. They were brave enough to take Jake out in the snow and cut down their tree while we chickened out and Roland stayed back at the shop with Seth while my mom and I searched for a Christmas tree in the snow. I remember thinking to myself, "They look like such a wonderful family."

The second time we ran into them was at St. Anthony's after mass. We said some brief hellos and that was about it. The final time we ran into them was at story time at the library in late August of 2007 right before Lee deployed last time. That was it, we started getting together for play dates with the boys and were instant friends; like we had known each other for years.

Four years later, vacations taken together, endless play dates, birthday's celebrated together, weekly dinner dates, 2 deployments, 2 baby girls, becoming godparents and on and on and on... Our journey through life has taken us places we could never have predicted together and I wouldn't take it back for all the money in the world. I am so grateful for our families friendship and the joy it has brought to all of our lives.

This charm means the world to me and every time I look at it it makes me happy and it reminds me of some wonderful times in my life with some amazing people. I thank you from the bottom of my heart for such a special gift and I value our friendship more than you will ever know!

Our Daredevil

We lined up Grandma Charlton to watch Beaner on Saturday so that we could go skiing and we had such a blast! It was snowing like the dickens, but we still bundled up and made the utter most of our time together. Seth has become quite the daredevil so keeping up with him is very interesting. He also insists on skiing in the woods (gasp) so we had tons of fun doing that too!

I also overcame a fear and took Seth on the chairlift...SUCCESS! Now he and I can go alone if given the opportunity! At the beginning of the day Seth said to me, "Daddy can be my chairlift buddy and you can be my buddy on the hill." Love it!

Roland had a little peaceful time riding up alone.

View from the top!

Thank you Bonnie for helping with Leah we appreciate it so very much!

Sunglasses Photoshoot

Jaime got Leah a pair of sunglasses in her Valentine goody bag so we decided to have a little photo shoot on Saturday. Seriously Priceless!

Check out those cheeks!
Smiling with her teeth, have to love that! It's her new thing.

Veggies & Milk

Seth has been an eating machine lately. He has been asking for seconds and thirds at dinner AND he has been eating his veggies and drinking milk in order to get these big muscles. (te he!)

We totally tell him if he eats all of the healthy foods that his muscles will grow and it is working! Now, if only his sister would listen too!

Pancake Sunday Valentine Style

Since Valentine's Day is on a Monday we decided to make our Pancake Sunday ritual Valentine themed...

There were hearts everywhere!

Happy Valentine's Day to all of our loved ones near and far. We love you all!

The Ice Mission

We have gotten some serious snow in the past three weeks and since we really like the inside of our house to be dry Roland headed out onto the roof and on various ladders for many hours yesterday. We have a flat roof over the computer room so the ice was pretty thick.

Watching Daddy was better than TV. Leah got quite a kick out of it!

Our Trek in the Snow

My mom and I decided to head out and try our snowshoes yesterday and let me tell you they are quite a workout. It was so fun to be out in the fresh air and trying something new. Spending alone time with my mom was a bonus too!

The snow was much deeper than we anticipated so we laughed a lot as we huffed along. Thank you to Roland for buying me an amazing birthday gift and to my mom for going with me on my first hike!

Additions to the List

I tried so hard to remember all of my special presents, but I have Mommy brain and I am now 33 and can't remember from week to week so I feel horrible that I left out a couple of special people who remembered my special day with very thoughtful gifties. During Christmas time all of the girls met up on a Monday night, we ate and then shopped for our 80s party. My friend Lisa came bearing little gifts for us all. She had made homemade marshmallows. I'm not a huge fan, but thought I'd try it since she is a fantastic cook. SERIOUSLY the best little goody in the world. I devoured all four that she had given me and immediately asked if she would make me some for my birthday. Well...she made me a whole bag and I enjoyed each and every one of them. I guess I do like more sweets that I thought. It's a good thing that Roland bought me these... I can't wait to get out and use them this weekend. It will be a weekend full of winter sports; skiing on Saturday and snowshoeing on Sunday!

Thank you so very very much!

The Thought Behind It

This isn't meant to brag in any way about the wonderful birthday I was given, but to compliment the people who really know me, my likes and what makes me smile the most. I love love love to find the perfect gift for the special people in my life. I don't just run to the store and pick something up quick, I put a lot of time and thought behind the perfect gift and I love to see the look on their faces when they open it up. Giving is so much fun! Apparently the special people in my life do just the same. Here are some of the special gifts that I was given and my goodness there was a lot of thought behind them.

My grandfather makes the most amazing popcorn. I have the greatest childhood memories of spending weekends with my grandparents, renting movies and eating endless bowls of popcorn under a blanket they we call the "snuggle bunny". We invited my grandparents down last Saturday, but because of the snow storm they weren't able to make it. Roland was travelling through Lowville on Monday and was asked to stop in to my grandparents house and pick up a special birthday gift for me. My Gramp made me a big bag of fresh popcorn which I promptly ate the entire bag after going to Zumba. Wrong order, but who cares it was delicious and I enjoyed every bite. Thank you Grandpa, I love you tons!
I am not a huge dessert person. Don't get me wrong there are many many sweet treats that I enjoy, but I have a few that I enjoy the MOST. Chocolate covered strawberries have to rank in the top 5 so when I got a call from Kristen yesterday afternoon telling me to look inside my fridge I ran! This is what I found and I basically wanted to eat the entire box in one sitting, but I decided to pace myself. I only ate two last night, but boy were they delicious.
Thank you so much Kristen!

I was given this beautiful bracelet for Christmas from my MIL Bonnie so I have been slowly adding a few charms here and there. I have the boy and girl for Seth and Leah, a beautiful green glass bead and for my birthday my Mom bought me the heart and my husband bought me my birth stone. Justin also bought me a Pandora.com gift certificate so I can get something special. This is very special to me because when I look at it I not only think of the special people in my life, but the thought that went behind purchasing each and every charm.

Thank you all so very much!

It is no secret that Roland and I have been through the wringer last year. We came out of it with flying colors, but the tri-monthly trips to SYR are still a reminder that life is precious and we are truly grateful for the blessings in our life. Sheryl and Jess got this beautiful sweatshirt for me for my birthday and I flipping love it. I wear my Live Strong bracelet daily and this is just the best gift!

Thank you Sheryl and Jess!

You all know that I carry my camera everywhere that I go and that I love to capture every single moment of my life so I was given this beautiful mug for my birthday from Jen and it almost made me cry. It has the most beautiful picture of Leah, one of Seth and then one of the four of us. I have given many gifts like this, but it is my first time receiving one and I love it. I love to stare at my favorite people as I have a hot winter drink!

I was also given a wonderful gift of snowshoes from my husband, but I forgot to take a pic of them this morning. Since the winters around here are LONG so I have been trying to broaden my horizons and try new winter sports. We ski as a family now, but I thought that it would be very fun to try my hand at snowshoeing. Roland granted my wish!

Thank you to everyone who called, emailed, texted, sent cards and card with money (xoxo), facebooked and on and on... I feel very blessed and I thank you all so very much!

Random Thought

I just realized that 11 years ago today Roland and I got engaged. He asked me to marry him on my birthday my first year of teaching. He got up super early and made breakfast and he had the ring hidden under the couch. He was so nervous, but finally got the courage and popped the question. He then drove me to work and I was on cloud nine all day long! Ahhhh the memories!

11 years later he is still surprising me. He drove to Clayton today and surprised me and took me to lunch and gave me my big birthday gift...SNOW SHOES! I can't wait to get out there and try them out this weekend! That winter fat is going to disappear if I have anything to say about it!

Thank you honey I love you tons! xoxoxo

Happy Birthday today also to Uncle Brad!

We hope you enjoyed your video serenade this morning and that you have a fantastic day!

Hugs and Kisses from Seth and Leah

How I Started My Day

As soon as Seth opened his door this morning he gave me a beautiful card and inside were these two gems...

He loves to write and can't wait to learn to read. He made me a heart and on one side it said "Happy B-Day" and on the other it had xoxoxoxo everywhere. Then he wrote me a little note there on the side with all of our names on it. He is so thoughtful and sweet! Love you Seth! You started me special day out GREAT!

Snack Thief

MISSING: FRUIT SNACKS BY THE DOZEN!

SUSPECT: LEAH ELIZABETH CHARLTON aka BEANER

CLUES: BOWLS LEFT ALL OVER THE HOUSE AND RESIDUE LEFT ON THE SUSPECTS CHIN

MOTHERLY DECISION MADE: GATE HER OUT OF THE SNACK AREA

NO SNACKS FOR YOU!

A Sweet Super Chili Bowl

Our dear friends Lisa and Zeke hosted another party and it was nothing less than spectacular. When they throw a party they go all out and you are not disappointed. We were very excited since Roland is a HUGE Steeler's fan and we all had our apparel on for the occasion. Unfortunately the Steeler's didn't win, but everyone had a fun night anyhow.

The kids definitely out numbered the adults...there were 14 kids and 12 adults! Thank goodness The Sweet's have a gigantic basement so the kids could run and play the whole night.
Our little fan!

Leah was in love with this giraffe and whenever someone else would get on it she would have a fit. We are trying to work on sharing!

We even brought our "Terrible Towel".

We were challenged to bring our chili and had a contest for the best chili. It was so much fun to try so many different flavors of chili and the winner was....KRISTEN! She won $30 and was one happy lady!

Maya even got in on the chili tasting experience and placed her votes in the contest.

They even remembered my birthday and everyone sang to me. I was very surprised and usually I figure things out. I had no idea this time. Thank you everyone!

PS...33 isn't that old!!

The men took their proper seats and most were reclined by the middle of the first half. What an awesome man cave!

During halftime we played "left, right, center" and Roland was the champ. He won a whole $15!

Leah just wanted to grab the dollar bills.

At least we won one of the three money making ventures at the party! YIPEEE!

Thank you Lisa and Zeke for including us and for throwing an amazing party!